Veteran pollster: This GOP candidate had the 'lowest score ever' in my focus group

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio at Tuesday night's Republican debate. AP Photo/Morry Gash Gov. John Kasich of Ohio forcefully staked out his position as a moderate Tuesday night during the fourth Republican debate, but it's not clear the tactic worked to his advantage.

During the debate, Kasich aggressively took issue with front-runner Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 million immigrants living in the US illegally. And he defended his position that he would bail out banks in the event of a potential financial collapse.

Kasich was interrupted by a booing audience after he criticized Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas during the debate over the senator's opposition to potential future bank bailouts.

"When a bank is going under and people are going to lose their life savings, you don't say you have to deal with philosophical concerns," Kasich said.

"Philosophy doesn't work when you run something."

It wasn't just audience members who didn't seem to appreciate Kasich's message: Veteran pollster Frank Luntz said Kasich registered the "lowest score ever" in Luntz's focus group held during the debate:

Some analysts said that though Kasich established himself as a strong defender of moderate Republican values, he may have damaged himself with conservative voters, who tend to drive the conversation during the primary.

"Kasich tried to take control of the debate by grabbing the mic from the outset," Robert O'Brien, a former adviser to Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, told Business Insider in an email. "He aggressively positioned himself as the moderate in the field. The problem for him is that the GOP primary voters skew conservative."